Wednesday, September 30, 2009

McTavish Apartments were built in 1941 on the site of the home of the Lyman family, Thornhill Mansion. They were designed by architect Charles Grenier.

The building is now part of Montreal's McGill University and is used for academic rather than residential purposes.

The apartments feature maritime elements such as metal-railed balconies and porthole windows with embedded square panels which for ventilation.

Along the McTavish Street facade the windows facing onto the balconies use glass bricks, presumably for privacy and the setback entrance also has porthole windows with glass bricks above the door.

Inside there is a small foyer with a green and yellow gingham pattern on the floor and a pair of fantastic handrails either side of a short flight of steps leading to the central core of the building.

The main stairs for the building wind around this semi-circular stairwell.

The maritime theme reoccurs in the colourful relief on the wall in the foyer. This wonderful sight greets you as you first walk into the building. Ancient mariners accompanied by an albratros or other large seabird looked over by a horse-borne goddess. A superb design.

Monday, September 28, 2009

The Golf Links Estate in Camberwell is a wonderful collection of interwar houses but when I visited a week or so ago I was taken by the these small traffic islands.

I saw two and as you can see they are triangular in shape with a round light on a concrete support in the middle of the island.

The streets in the estate are quite narrow by today's standards and it is good to see that the traffic islands have survived where surely there would have been pressure to shrink them to aid the flow of cars through the intersection.

Sunday, September 27, 2009

A central entrance tower with glass bricks, two Art Deco decorative panels, El Sonia spelt out in cursive metal work and flanked by two small rounded balconies.

Two original garages with wooden doors and small windows and maybe with the move to a greener world cars might fit through those narrow openings once more.

Then there is that almost clumsy square open balcony above one of the garages not to mention the conventional (but practical for Melbourne's weather) pitched tile roof.

If you look carefully on the nearest rounded balcony you'll see, alongside the Australian flag, a Geelong FC flag. Deep in enemy territory, so to speak, but Australian Rules Football, in general, is not like that.

Congratulations to Geelong in the Grand Final yesterday. They have been an awesome team over the past three years.

Saturday, September 26, 2009

Friday, September 25, 2009

No prizes for picking St Kilda Town Hall as a fairly substantial Victorian building but ... well it's Grand Final week and the Saints are in the Grand Final for the first time since 1997. We've only won it once in 1966. Maybe 2009 will be our year if we can defeat a fantastic Geelong team.

As you can see the City of Port Phillip, which now includes the former City of St Kilda has decorated the Town Hall in the Red, White and Black of the Sainters.

But this is an Art Deco blog, so in that spirit the portico, although not deco was built in 1925 and some deco elements can be seen in the glasswork of the doors.

In 1939 further alterations were made to the Town Hall and some interior features have an Art Deco feel.

In the 1990s a fire badly damaged the building but was quickly restored with a remodelled auditorium. The Town Hall has been extended and reworked in recent years providing among other things gallery space and better staff facilities.

Wednesday, September 23, 2009

I went to the Royal Melbourne Show yesterday for the first time in yonks. I remember the first time I went was Grand Final day 1975 with my parents. It was our first year in Australia and we choose the Show over the footy. I've never made that mistake again.

The Show was good fun and in a first for me I watched the dog judging because friends of mine were showing their Briards and they all won prizes.

Sunday, September 20, 2009

As the name suggests, the Golf Links Estate in Camberwell was built on a former golf course and is considered one of the best interwar suburbs in Melbourne.

This is Woodside with its name worked into the ironwork of the gate. A concrete path leads past a garden light to the front door, well protected by a substantial porch.

The front garden is surrounded by a short cream coloured wall supported on a base of dark bricks and capped with a strip of brown. The step-down of the wall mirroring the split level of the enclosed garden.

Saturday, September 19, 2009

I don't know if it is a particular Art Deco fascination or not but on every Art Deco tour we like to check out the bathrooms and toilets. From the fabulous rest room at Radio City Music Hall in NYC to the most humble house the bathroom is often a treasure trove of deco features. As Robin Grow, noted author and President of the Art Deco and Modernist Society would say in his best Aussie slang, 'we love a good deco dunny'.

These Public Conveniences are cut in the the garden embankment between Jacka Boulevard and Upper Esplanade in the Melbourne seaside suburb of St Kilda.

I doubt they are a 'treasure trove of deco' inside but the streamline lines and mushroom light provide a wonderful exterior.

Although there is no overt signage identifying the Public Toilets on Upper Esplanade, they are marked by a pair of fabulous Art Deco pillars.

While the Niagara Mowhawk Power Corporation Building is black and chrome with the spectacular 'Spirit of Light' figure on the facade, the Vars Building relies on carved relief panels for decoration.

Many recognisable Art Deco motifs are represented on the Vars Building.

A frozen fountain with stylised sun rays and clouds sits in a panel above the doorway. The spandrels on the upper floors feature chevrons, triangles and other stepped forms. Stylised floral designs decorated the tops of the columns separating the black framed windows.

Look at the delicately scolloped roofline and the panel on the second storey above the door which depicts a vase or perhaps a stylised cornucopia bearing a wide variety of flowers.

MELBOURNE ART DECO
In 2009 Robin Grow published a book on Melbourne Art Deco, with images largely supplied by David Thompson. The book quickly sold out and he is pleased to say that it has now been re-published by Brolga Press, with updates, errors corrected and a new cover.

Best of all, it is selling for about $25 in the shops and on-line. Art Deco & Modernism Society members can purchase a copy from me for $22, (includes postage within Australia). For overseas orders please email for postage rates. Contact me at robingrow@ozemail.com.au if you are interested, and advise if you would like the book to be dedicated and/or signed.